Joanne Obenauf and Trista Walker
New Hire/Promotion

Woman-Owned Creative Agency BNO Announces New CEO

After 40 years at the helm of Somerville-based creative agency Baldwin & Obenauf, Inc., Joanne Obenauf has named current agency president Trista Walker as CEO, effective March 1. Obenauf will continue serving the award-winning agency as board chair.

“We have been thoughtfully developing this succession plan for several years,” noted Obenauf, who wanted to ensure a smooth transition and continued success for BNO as a women-owned agency. “I’m confident that Trista and our talented management team will lead BNO through its next phase of its growth, as I transition to my new role as Board Chair.”

“The success of BNO rests on Joanne’s shrewd ability to listen to what clients need and fearlessly evolve the company’s strategy to remain a step ahead,” explained Walker, “which has included making smart investments in new technologies, services and most importantly people.”

An entrepreneur herself, Walker founded Blue Flame Partners, a multidimensional marketing agency, prior to joining BNO. In fact, she originally engaged BNO to partner with her firm on a large design project for the USDA and, loving the energy and creativity at the agency, agreed to join forces. She also previously served as senior vice president of client services for Compass Healthcare Marketers.

While the pandemic paused marketing efforts and painfully dismantled agencies of all sizes in recent years, BNO enjoyed exponential growth, a credit to both Obenauf and Walker. BNO has experienced double-digit growth in each of the last three years, while increasing staffing by 30% during a pandemic and while enjoying its milestone 40th year, marked by its recognition as one of the “Best Places to Work” by NJBIZ and its acquisition of Garfield Group, a creative marketing and PR agency.

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